News

OOPS: Report inflates cost of Flat Rock calls by $620,000

By Bill Moss, Published: February 1, 2015

Two Henderson County commissioners say the Village of Flat Rock should pay for the cost of sheriff's deputies that answer calls in the town.

Chairman Tommy Thompson brought up the question, and on a related topic the board at the end of the day voted against paying for construction of a Fletcher library. The staff produced a chart showing that Flat Rock, Mills River and Fletcher — all less than 25 years old — had shifted $24 million in sales tax from the county to those cities from 2004 to 2014. Fletcher during that period has received $11.2 million, Flat Rock $4.5 million and Mills River $8.2 million.
Commissioners said Flat Rock residents are skating by while taxpayers in four other towns pay for police service.
"The sheriff will tell you and I would agree that he has a legal responsibility to be out there for all of Henderson County," Thompson said. "But by the same token Fletcher has its own police department, Laurel Park has its own police department. Mills River contracts for someone to be there, and Flat Rock — those wonderful folks are enjoying the benefits."
"They've got taxing authority," Hawkins added. "They take their portion of the sales tax. I'd like to see them step up to the responsibilities and help some of the law enforcement."
During the discussion, the board used figures for the cost of sheriff's service in Flat Rock that were four times higher than the actual cost. The report from the county administrator said the cost of enforcement, based on the number of calls, was $800,000 in Flat Rock and $180,000 in Mills River. The next day, Assistant County Manager Amy Brantley made a round of calls to reporters to clarify that the report had reversed the numbers; Flat Rock's cost was $180,000.
Hendersonville, Laurel Park and Fletcher all have their own city police departments. Mills River pays about $71,131 a year for a contract deputy assigned to the town.

'Our citizens don't want a contract'

"It's something that's been talked about before," Flat Rock Mayor Bob Staton said. "Steve Wyatt has talked about it. A couple of years ago at an LGCCA meeting Tommy Thompson talked about how they were going to discuss what municipalities should pay and specifically what Flat Rock should because we don't have a contract with the sheriff's department like Mills River does."
Flat Rock Village Council members met twice with Sheriff Charlie McDonald and talked several times in 2012 and 2013 about a contracted deputy. The main thing Flat Rock residents asked for was animal control enforcement.

Flat Rock Mayor Bob Staton"Our citizens don't want us to enter into a contract with the sheriff's department," Staton said. "The attitude of our citizens in that regard as it relates to animal control is they don't see any reason why we should pay $100,000 to the sheriff to answer calls about somebody's barking dog. To pay what Mills River pays for their services would be almost a 20 percent increase in our property taxes, and we also feel that our citizens as property owners pay the same taxes as unincorporated areas and should be entitled to the same services."
"When they talk about our taking sales taxes away from the county I don't understand that argument at all," he said. "Every incorporated municipality is entitled to a portion of the sales tax based on state statutes and a formula so we do get our share of the sales taxes and we use that to pay for services that we do provide including fire protection."
Based on its discussion with the sheriff, the village projected that a contracted deputy would cost $70,000 a year, not counting the cost of a vehicle the village would provide, at $30,000 to $50,000, Staton said.
Staton, a retired attorney, said he knew of no power the county has to try to force the village to pay for sheriff's service.
"They may come up with some way to try to convince us that this is something we need to do but they can't just charge us," he said. "We're always willing to listen and we do talk to the sheriff from time to time."
During the county commissioners' discussion of the issue, County Manager Steve Wyatt declined to offer a recommendation.
"The bad news is there's not a right answer," he said. "It's what you think based on policy."